Travelling to - and around - China

Lysander

Lysander

Lysander

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For a long time I’ve been wanting to go to China but have never had the funds to do so until now. I know that quite a few of you here have been and I’d like some advice with regards to where would be most suitable places to go in the country. The main reasons I want to go are that I have a fascination with Chinese history and culture and would love to see the country first hand. I also plan to do a lot of photography while I’m there, mostly at night.

I want to go to some or all the following cities – Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Janin and Hong Kong. I will be travelling alone and going from anything from two weeks to a month. At the moment I’m thinking two weeks in Beijing, one month in Hong Kong/Shanghai but it’s hard to tell in spite of doing a lot of research. Obviously the more cities I go to, the more expensive it gets. I also want hotels with room internet access so I’m generally looking at four stars and above.

For those who have been, where would you recommend I go and for how long? The more I travel around, the more I’d need someone with me who knows the language… wouldn’t I? Whereas I’m sure I could make it in one/two major cities with no problems.

Thoughts and advice appreciated.
 
Prostitution isn't legal in China. But it is in Hong Kong. Presumably thats all you need to know.

Anyway, I thought you were either banned or had boycotted OCUK. Haven't seen you post here since the nazi days.
 
seek said:
Prostitution isn't legal in China. But it is in Hong Kong. Presumably thats all you need to know.

Anyway, I thought you were either banned or had boycotted OCUK. Haven't seen you post here since the nazi days.
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I've been lurking, but not much here has interested me enough to post. Also, my new job doesn't give me as much internet time as the old one so that's played a big part as well.
 
If I were you I'd drop off Xi'an from that list, and if only two weeks probably Shanghai too. Xi'an only has the terracotta warriors which are a bit disappointing. There's a famous mountain nearby, but then there are famous mountains most places. The city is heavily polluted and there isn't much else to do (and what there is can be seen in half a day). There are far more interesting places to visit.

Shanghai has some small towns around it which are meant to be quite pretty (Hangzhou, Suzhou), although I haven't been. Still, if I were only travelling for two weeks, I'd suggest one of the two places below in addition to Beijing. Also, I don't recognise Janin, it's not a Chinese name.

Some places I would suggest:
Xishuangbanna, Jinghong (tropical south prefecture). Walks along the Mekong etc.
Guangxi province, Yangshuo. This is heavily touristy, but the area around it is wonderful. Karst landscape.

As for hotels, generally the best places to stay will be hostels. Reasonable prices, AC, internet access, western food, foreigners etc. Chinese hotels are rubbish - less comfy, more expensive, cheaper ones no broadband and squat toliets. Major cities will have the bigger western business brands, but you're not getting anything over a hostel. If you find yourself in Chengdu, go to Sim's Cozy. It's probably the best place to stay in China.

As a general note - two weeks in Beijing? One month in Shanghai/HK? I think you would be thoroughly fed up with them by then. If you want to do a Chinese course or something, then feel free to stay that long in the big cities. You wont see much of the place though. Travel about. See stuff.
 
I think you’re underestimating how long I can stay in one place and make use of it. I’m not there to see sites only, but even the urbanity of the place can be fascinating from a writing/photographic/creative point of view. Still, I take your point and it’s good to drop Xi’an off the list, that was getting in the way. Also, remember that the more you stay in one place, the more confident you get [also, it’s cheaper than moving around]. Maybe I should spend a week in each place. The other place was Jinan, sorry, I got that wrong.

As for the hostel thing, I’m not sure I can do that. Whenever I go abroad I need my own room – and a relatively decent one at that. I will maybe look for three star hotels but below that I don’t want to. As much as I want the ‘authentic’ feeling, it’s also down to what you’re used to.
 
Agree with all of the above really, Sim's especially, great place. And yeah, Janin isn't a place as far as I'm aware :p

Really, go with hostels rather than Chinese hotels, they're soulless and very dull, hated the places the few times I was in them. If you want to shell out £100 a night or so, then the international ones are good, but you can pay a fraction of that for a private hostel room with far more character and I'm sure you'll have a better time.

As for places, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guilin...really think bout the time you're spending in each plac ethough. A month in Shanghai/HK is far too much if you've limited time, there's so much more to see elsewhere. One of the trips I enjoyed most was heading to inner Mongolia, totally random, ended up getting lifts around on carts attatched to donkeys and marvelling at the different pace of life to things on the east coast. Hainan's nice for chilling too, but not much there in the way of history.

Anyway, I was living over there for a year, and will be going back over to work soon, so feel free to fire any particular questions my way.
 
KPeh said:
As a general note - two weeks in Beijing? One month in Shanghai/HK? I think you would be thoroughly fed up with them by then.
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no idea re Shanghai but 4 days in HK would be more than enough, it's not that interesting, certainly not after visiting China proper
 
Lysander said:


As for the hostel thing, I’m not sure I can do that. Whenever I go abroad I need my own room – and a relatively decent one at that. I will maybe look for three star hotels but below that I don’t want to. As much as I want the ‘authentic’ feeling, it’s also down to what you’re used to.
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It's not like travelling in Europe or America. Chinese hotels are up to Chinese standards, whereas hostels are up to Western standards. An ensuite room in a hostel would be your best bet, unless you want to pay the price of a Western business hotel.

A final note: the best of China is outside the cities. I can't fanthom why you want to spend so much time there. For example:

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KPeh said:
It's not like travelling in Europe or America. Chinese hotels are up to Chinese standards, whereas hostels are up to Western standards. An ensuite room in a hostel would be your best bet, unless you want to pay the price of a Western business hotel.
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OK, I take your point and obviously you know what you’re talking about. I am used to staying in business hotels though, and have no qualms in spending £500 a week for a hotel on Expedia. I will look into hostels though. Any site you can recommend that I can find them?
 
Lysander said:
OK, I take your point and obviously you know what you’re talking about. I am used to staying in business hotels though, and have no qualms in spending £500 a week for a hotel on Expedia. I will look into hostels though. Any site you can recommend that I can find them?
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A weeks worth of ensuite rooms in a hostel will probably cost £200 in the larger cities (not including HK, there I have no idea). Pay separately for breakfast, though. Generally ones with the 'hostelling international' logo are good, but check if they have a website. The best ones do, so type the city name + hostel into google. Otherwise, hostelling international have a website here http://www.hihostels.com , but as you get a fair bit of choice between places, seeing what's top in a google search would probably be safer.
 
Best bet is to start off in HK, get a Visa for China, hop on the train to SZ and then see where you go from there. Wouldn't spend too long in HK / Shanghai though , I've spent some time there before and I think you'd get bored after a bit more than a week.

If I go now I usually fly into HK, train to Shen Zhen and stay there as hotels are about half the price as they are in HK. Bit more difficult getting by with only speaking english though I find.
 
Ironic Namesake said:
Best bet is to start off in HK, get a Visa for China, hop on the train to SZ and then see where you go from there. Wouldn't spend too long in HK / Shanghai though , I've spent some time there before and I think you'd get bored after a bit more than a week.

If I go now I usually fly into HK, train to Shen Zhen and stay there as hotels are about half the price as they are in HK. Bit more difficult getting by with only speaking english though I find.
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Do I need a visa to visit for this length of time?
 
You'll be able to pick up a tourist visa in HK no problem, and get it significantly faster than you would in London. If you want to do multiple entry/longer visas, it's infinitely easier to get an agent in HK to do it than the embassy over here.

The hostel I tend to stay in in Beijing is $27/night for a private ensuite room with wifi available (just checked their business card, though I generally go with the $8 dorm beds), so yeah, I'd always recommend that over a Chinese hotel. Also, think about how you'll travel internally - I think the trains are superb, really, but you will be spending a fair bit of time on them to get anywhere. Try 9588 or eLong for flights, they're often unbelievably cheap.
 
Do Hong-Kong first or last. Travel by train, don't pay expensive hotel fees. Take a phrase book, don't rely on other companies to organise your stuff, IE transport, everything can be done independently.
 
Lysander said:
Thanks. How secure are the hostels? Bearing in mind I'll be bringing camera + laptop.
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As will everyone else. It should be fine.

As for the get a visa in HK thing, you could, but it's probably easier to get one in London since you live there anyway. There's a place on High Holborn. Wait is about 10 minutes, takes 4 days to process. I personally wouldn't want the hassle of having to sort one out in HK, a city that I'm not familiar with when I could do it in advance.

Incidentally, HK counts as outside China as far as the visa is concerned. So if you have a single entry tourist visa, you can't go to China, then HK, then back to China again.
 
seek said:
Prostitution isn't legal in China. But it is in Hong Kong. Presumably thats all you need to know.

Anyway, I thought you were either banned or had boycotted OCUK. Haven't seen you post here since the nazi days.
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Just lol. It may not be legal, but it's shoved in your face in nearly every bar. :p
 
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